Photo Essay: Christmas in Germany

Christmas is coming and with all this festive merriment and cheer comes a sense of nostalgia. Today, I’ll be taking a stroll down memory lane, back to a winter of old.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have little evidence of my German adventures in the week proceeding Christmas 2005. This was slightly before the age of digital cameras and mass social media, so only a few disposables photos and trinkets have survived. What I do have, however, are memories; memories of kitsch shops in back alleys streets, the Gothic spires of Cologne Cathedral, elaborate pastries displayed in windows and of course, the famous Aachen Christmas Market.

I’d love to read more of your journeys, Holly, with accompanying photos or not!
It’s funny how we now live in a ‘pics or it didn’t happen’ culture. It’s nice to have plentiful visual stimuli to keep the memories alive but there’s something about those simpler times, with fewer pictures and narrower circulation, that adds a personal touch and emits significance.